By Chris Trotter*
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Christopher Luxon’s unguarded and thoroughly negative appraisal of New Zealand has been the reaction. One week ago (12/6/23) forgetting that he was still wearing a “hot mike”, the Leader of the Opposition vouchsafed to a Helensville cocky that: “We have become very negative, wet, whiny, inward-looking country. And we have lost the plot. And we have to get our mojo back.”
Far from being inundated with the angry protests of an insulted electorate, Luxon’s people reported receiving strongly expressed concurrence from across the nation. Though by no means unanimous, the view that New Zealand has lost its mojo clearly has many supporters.
That these nay-sayers will be predominantly rural and provincial voters is a pretty safe bet. Country folk have a long-standing and decidedly jaundiced view of those inhabiting the Big Smoke. The idea that virtue increases in inverse proportion to the distance travelled from the vice-filled cities has a long pedigree in New Zealand.
The other stronghold of nay-saying is to be found in the glass towers and leafy suburbs of the big cities themselves. The idea of their taxes being lavished on the wet and whiny poor is a constant source of vexation to the wealthy. Political “tough love” should be the order of the day. Give the improvident and work-shy no choice but to harden-up and knuckle-down.
Luxon’s unguarded observations indicate a strong measure of agreement with these sentiments even though they are hardly overflowing with empathy and the milk of human kindness. More a case of the willingness to be kind being inextricably bound up with the willingness to be cruel first. A political credo that is less “applied Christianity”, and more institutionalised political sadism.
That there’s a lot of it about became disturbingly clear during the Covid pandemic. From the very beginning of the public health crisis there were voices raised (almost all of them associated closely with the “Big End” of town) against heavy-handed state intervention and in favour of letting nature run its course. The economic consequences of empathy and social solidarity, they said, were too costly to be seriously considered. The ghosts of Darwin and Malthus haunted the op-ed pages. Terms like “herd immunity”, apart from their regrettable associations with cattle, recalled “the survival of the fittest” – and other upper-class explanations for why the poor should be allowed to go to hell.
When Jacinda Ardern’s lockdowns and Grant Robertson’s wage subsidies delivered, at least initially, extremely positive outcomes for the population – catapulting Ardern to rock-star status internationally – the rhetoric changed. Luxon’s mentor, John Key, talked about New Zealand having been reduced to “hermit kingdom” status. It’s an expression that bears close comparison with Luxon’s more recent “inward-looking” snipe. At the time Key coined the phrase, however, it was all of a piece with the vicious criticism routinely directed at New Zealand and its prime minister by that mouthpiece of nasty British Toryism – The Daily Telegraph.
There remains, however, something irremediably mealy-mouthed about National’s sledging of the New Zealand people – especially when considered alongside the no-holds-barred neoliberal policy-wrangling now on display from Act. When it comes to delivering his party’s package without so much as a modesty-preserving fig-leaf, David Seymour is truly a full-Monty man.
Perusing Act’s policy agenda, and translating its bold claims into the practical misery that massive shifts of wealth in favour of the rich and ruthless spending-cuts always bring to the poor, it very quickly becomes clear what is generally understood when the Right resorts to language like “wet” and “whiny” and “inward-looking”, and what they mean when they claim that their country has “lost the plot”.
At work here is a view of government that contains at its core the conviction that democracy is – and always has been – a mistake. A system of government which allows a feckless majority to award itself a living out of the surpluses piled-up by a hard-working minority is regarded as economically and sociologically insane. So mad is it that the minority is entirely justified in employing any and every means at its disposal to prevent itself being dominated and exploited by the majority. Setting one part of the majority against another by seizing every opportunity for creating discord is the tried and tested strategy for preventing the majority from cohering into a political/electoral force which the minority cannot defeat. Divide et impera, divide and conquer, is as old as Imperial Rome.
The key dividing line in the forthcoming election looks set to fall between those who are angry and those who are scared. On the right of New Zealand politics this divides the angry voters, keen to embrace Act’s uncompromising policy agenda, from the frightened voters, desperate for National to make them feel safe and secure again. Act’s job is the easier of the two. In electoral terms, feeding people’s anger has always paid higher dividends than fuelling people’s fears. National will struggle to compose a manifesto capable of allaying voters’ fears without appearing to endorse the Labour Government’s own efforts to calm and reassure the electorate. Such an outcome would only anger National Party voters – driving still more of them into the arms of Act. Quite the conundrum.
It does, however, offer a convincing explanation for Luxon’s rather bitter assessment of his fellow New Zealanders – and why so many of them have given it the thumbs-up. National’s leader clearly feels uncomfortable at having to pander to a fearful country. He doesn’t want to lead a negative people, a wet people, a whiny people, or an inward-looking people. Least of all does he want to be the prime minister of a needy people in search of a government committed to kissing everything better. What’s more, he is very far from being the only person on the right of New Zealand politics who feels this way.
The plot which Luxon believes New Zealand has lost, is the plot originally devised and executed by Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson. The plot based upon the proposition that most people are simply incapable of discerning what is good for them, and that real leadership consists of telling people what is good for them, and then giving it to them good and hard. Unfortunately, leadership of that sort requires an awful lot of mojo and, for the moment, Act has cornered the mojo market.
Listening to Christopher Luxon, that Helensville cocky could be forgiven for thinking that, given the choice, the Leader of the Opposition would rather be the leader of Act.
*Chris Trotter has been writing and commenting professionally about New Zealand politics for more than 30 years. He writes a weekly column for interest.co.nz. His work may also be found at http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com.
92 Comments
I don't think Trotter sees it, but Western Civ is crumbling. Every first-world country has health, infrastructure and education problems, most are hopelessly indebted, many have thrown up psychopathic leaders in response to rising-from-the-bottom-up angst.
The question is: Who can negotiate what is happening, and beyond?
None of the current crop - including the current-iteration Greens, go within a bulls' roar of what is needed. So why bother examining the minutae? The last person in Parliament who got where we have to go - or at least, who was brave enough to articulate it - was Jeanette Fitzsimons. Compared to her, Trotter is describing Clown One and Clown Two.
His article is too focused to push your point PDK. Besides you may be a little premature to say 'western civilisation is crumbling'. But it is very definitely on shaky ground. What CT doesn't identify, and I don't recall him giving it any mention in any of his articles, is that none of the current players seem to understand the utter failure of the 'free market' economic policies and damage they have caused. Nor do they have a vision for a future that will avoid the downfall. I suggest they are likely too busy sucking up to the wealthy and powerful, possibly to secure their own futures beyond their political life?
None of the parties seem to represent the people of NZ any more, or are even trying to reach out to find out what is needed. They are just presenting a political rhetoric in the hope that it will find favour with the masses that will see them voted into power. It is nothing more than shallow, self serving garbage to bait the simple minded and gullible.
none of the current players seem to understand the utter failure of the 'free market' economic policies and damage they have caused
I agree with the rest of your comment, however when it comes to free market as mentioned above, we are an export country that is reliant on the rest of the world to maintain our economy, our currency, therefore our standard of living. Nobody wants to break from a system that has intertwines itself across the western world between economies, lest we do like the UK and try something new at the cost of our own economy (I still baulk at the campaign they had to vote out with, atrocious). The balance is what level of regulation we allow to have in a free market economy, too much regulation and it stifles business, too little and businesses have too much power and influence. We have regulatory bodies in many sectors, however we might be in a better state if they showed the spine to do something.
The problem is PDK is the tendency to be little too extremist when presenting an argument. I disagree that western civilisation is crumbling. I do suggest it is on shakey ground. But it is not beyond salvage yet. Jeanette Fitzsimons was good, certainly better than anyone who has followed in her steps, but to me she didn't really have a vision for the future either. She was certainly the most politically acceptable of the bunch, but I think that was just because no one saw her as a threat?
She had a vision of the future
https://www.aut.ac.nz/news/stories/economy-of-enough
Sorry, but it IS beyond salvage - do you not read anything I put up?
https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/rr01-berman-michaux-prie… (just a for-instance). Why do you think Universities are all of a sudden broke?
Spare us all from politicians who have visions. Germanies vote on Green policies had 82% voting for being warm, dry, fed, and employed. It had 18% voting for the opposite. Our voting would be about the same, but probably a bit more sensible than that. This election may boil down to something similar. Dave and his mates ACTing up, or whichever of the 76 Green factions are running their show at election time. It will be so entertaining. Opportunities will abound to do well, businesswise over the next few years.
Jeanette Fitzsimon's Economy of Enough? Come on PDK that is as naive as the rest of the claptrap our politicians feed us. She does not take into account human psychology. she doesn't acknowledge there needs to be limits to population, just that we have to stop consuming. That goes against every facet of human psychology and history. Every living thing consumes, and the more they consume the stronger and more powerful and therefore the more resilient they become. There are natural limits, but human beings are no different. We are all wired for that. It cannot change unless we are genetically changed, but then we are no longer us. We are wired for survival. So what is the future?
As I have indicated the only hope is by limiting population size. Human beings have always travelled so travel cannot be and will not be stopped. the best that can happen is that we facilitate it efficiently. But look at the animal kingdoms. what happens when there are too many rabbits, too many possums, too many deer.....? The local environment for them collapses and causes a population collapse as they starve, and/or disease runs rampant. That is our destiny as our local environment is the planet and too many people must inevitably cause the planetary biosystems to collapse. If we haven't degenerated into war before that, we will after as we fight over the ability to just feed ourselves. In part some of the inter-tribal warfare that Maori had before the Europeans came was for that reason. There are lessons there. Our best, and I believe only real hope is to limit population size. To globally undertake a managed decline in population to levels that the planet can support. In NZ an immigration policy for workers is a typically insane policy of denial.
Re population, we're on the same page.
But Fitzsimons was quite correct in identifying the problem, and that's not being naive. From the physics/chemistry/biology POV, consumption is the ONLY problem; how we share that consumption around is a social/cultural issue.
Lots of words, Murray, but that (naive) was a strawperson opt-out. A base-line justification for self-continuance.
it's not an opt out PDK. You're just ignoring a part of the physics equation. There are finite limits to everything, and we are, through our consumption, bouncing against those limits now. But stopping consumption is not solving the problem, it is just deferring it. it is just another delaying tactic like all the others, because population will still rise. And sooner or later the needs of excessive population, no matter how little we consume (and it is never nothing) must inevitably cause environmental collapse.
Here's a hot take for you Muzza. In classical Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the death drive is the drive toward death and destruction, often expressed through behaviors such as aggression, repetition compulsion, and self-destructiveness.
As your generation ages, and is faced with the reality of its mortality, those among you who are character disordered are increasingly projecting their realisation that their death is imminent onto the external world. Given that your peers are those who hold the sway vote, it is expedient for politicians to reflect & espouse the narrative that all is crumbling & the end times are near.
Opposing the dismal narrative that you like to bleat, and leaning into eros, is an optimistic view that celebrates the huge progress that continues to be made in every avenue of human endeavour.
I invite you to reflect on whether your position that the world is falling apart & will soon be ending, is nothing more than a stealthily growing subconscious fear & realization that you are doing just that. Perhaps your latter years would be better spent accepting your senescence, and enjoying what time you have left, rather than externalising your decrepitude & living in a sad denial.
Somewhat extreme MP.
I don't argue that the world is falling apart. I argue that those who would deem themselves our political masters, and superior to us, are consistently failing the people they supposedly serve. And have consistently done so for decades with the only real difference is that they have lost most of their subtlety as information systems make it easier to challenge them.
And my peers hold the sway vote? I suggest to you that the majority of my peers are firmly politically aligned to one side or the other. Indeed my wider family are unashamedly Labour. But I am not, and I hope my real 'peers' are those non-aligned thinkers who critically view policy positions and votes on them. After all it is the swing voters who decide an election. I hope your gibe was not in reference to Boomers, because the last count I heard was that there was only one Boomer in parliament and I would suggest later generations have out numbered Boomers for a number of elections now, but surprise surprise the calibre and attitude of our politicians is not changing. Now why would that be?
As to quoting an old German sexual deviant. My desire and hope is for a politician to rise with the vision and capability to build a country and world for all who live in it, not just a few wealthy, elites who think they're better than everyone else. Democracy gives us the ability to challenge the BS we are served daily by our politicians. If you don't support that ability, irrespective of whether you agree with the challenge, then you don't deserve the right.
What a douchenozzle response.
Literally every response you make is either demanding people are banned or psychoanalyzing them to 'deep strike' perceived insecurities. Big words and poetic language veil venomous tounges. Freud is considered a complete fraud in the science of psychology.
Do a backflip.
I too was surprised by the lack of negative reaction to "wet, and whiny". Could it be that the reason is an increasing number of people agree with the comments? CT, you have critiqued identity politics often enough yourself. It seems you have jumped to your grab bag of left wing tropes and phobias because Luxon has highlighted this too. The real issue we face is politicians who spend our money on identity politics virtue signals, while doing nothing to improve the lives of everyday people. And they really are wet and whiny as they do it.
improve the lives of everyday people.
I've been thinking about this in relation to my choices come this election. When I read Terry Baucher's explanation of the recently announced Green policy on taxation, I was stunned by this statement;
the proposals that they've [the Green's] put out for the income tax cuts would affect many more people and benefit many more people, all those earning under $125,000, which is something like just over 4 million people.
4 (out of 5) million NZers benefitting from income tax cuts is phenomenal.
I've never voted Green before, but I am finding it hard not to vote for something like that which would indeed benefit "everyday people".
"The plot based upon the proposition that most people are simply incapable of discerning what is good for them, and that real leadership consists of telling people what is good for them, and then giving it to them good and hard."
An unintentional but very accurate description of Jacindas 2 years of unbridled power.
Anyone who has brought up kids knows that sometimes it's necessary to be "cruel" (not giving in to every whim & expecting them to take responsibility for their actions) to be kind. However Labour/Greens/TPM actively create state dependencies to maintain their voter demographic.
Mr Trotter, Ardern was never recognized as a international rock star!
Only a few poms and Americans, suffering their own pathetic leaders covid issues, and some dumb media "Meng Foons"', fell for her deception and "kindness" spin.
The majority of the world didn't buy her crap and never brought into her acting..
Where were the cries of disappointment when she gave up her role as PM?... Nobody gave v a shite
Again, you spin the facts but show your complete myopic mindset..
Tell us about Hipkins, and Shaw's stupidity for a change.
I've been to some pretty backwoods places internationally in the last couple of years, and wherever I go and people ask where I'm from, they comment on Jacinda and how much better we've handled mass shootings and anti-muslim sentiment than our anglo-American peers.
Not that I'm pro-cindy, but she did probably help raise NZs profile as not being a total bunch of fwits.
Actually, they do. I travel overseas extensively, and once people (particularly Uber drivers) find you are from NZ they start talking about bloody Jacinda and how great she is and how they would love to have her. I basically say, "have her, we don't want her and we didn't want her. She got forced out because no-one liked her once they finally discovered what she was". I then get silence.....and then the "Oh but she did such a wonderful job with Covid". I then say, "mate, it's an island in the middle of nowhere with a spread-out population, how hard was it to shut the borders...and she didn't even get that right". Conversation ends.
I might have voted yes too, given after her speech on why she was resigning, I could see too that she didn't have enough in the tank to carry on.
Politics is a cruel place - that as PM she faced three massive tragedies (Covid, Chch and White Island) while being a new mother on top... it's no wonder.
If we make a comparison to the US - both Biden and Trump should retire themselves as well.
But, it takes strength of character and grace - which Jacinda had in spades - but (as yet) neither of them have.
Kate you are deluded.
If grace = rabid.
If strength = quitting.
Key was more credible and less divisive. He had to deal with tragedies too.
She was acting her whole career in politics, a caring person does not be a smart arse in the debatjng chamber nor swear under her breath at people.
Politics is not a cruel place!!! The people in politics are cruel and only a few at that.
Open your eyes, Ardern left the country divided, homeless, under educated, abd in a poverty stricken crime laden mess.
She was useless.
Read this and tell me me what is to like about Ardern.
Decisive, inept, stupid, and naive...
By an ex labour minister...
https://nopunchespulled.com/2023/06/19/michael-bassett-a-national-treas…
You can believe what you want mate.
Most of it's in the mid-east Asia region. Admittedly often with Muslim people. But there's definitely a perception in many places that America handles Muslim affairs poorly (hard to argue against), and that NZ is a more inclusive place, that acted more decisively around firearms control.
Whether you disagree about firearms control or Muslim affairs is irrelevant, many of our actions as a country are viewed positively.
We should use our tourism board for the news and our news to scare tourists away.
Maybe read less books and go out and see the world or something.
Amazing what resonates into the MSM. You mean we had one mass shooting followed by a mass overreaction by taking guns off registered gun owners who have been no trouble at all for donkeys years ? Yep hugs and kisses all round as the people that actually live here watch it all go down the gurgler.
I suspect CT would require several volumes of an Encylopedia sized book to list or discuss the abject failure that Hipkins Shaw and Ardern are and were, to include the whole Govt would be a Herculean task. CT usually writes interesting and reasonably balanced pieces but this is much a rant and fails to understand the silent hatred that many show to the divisive and damaging consequence of the Labour led Govt.
I remember my cousin talking about 'Survival of the fittest' when I was growing up as if that was the ultimate solution to everything.
The irony is that given his family, he was never going to have to be very fit himself to live a comfortable life and now lives a standard of life that is well beyond what he could have had from his employment. I don't see him much but I suspect he's probably one of the angry ones too.
Lets face it , the good old kiwi bloke is under pressure to change our ways , and we don't like it . All this "woke" stuff. We will try and keep our toys and bad habits as long as we can. "Cindy's" gone, and the new bloke eats sausage rolls. On the other side we have this guy doing fist pumps to mojo . I think we'll be right .
In my experience , its the rich doing the moaning. Just after they get back from their cruise , they moan about a dollar or 2 on their bill. Then the diatribe about how "this" government has ruined the country. Some even suggest i should not charge them GST( ill just ring IRD and get you an exemption , I'm sure it will be fine) , because not one cent of their hard earned money should go to this government. I refrain from asking them where their pension comes from. they have of course earned it, unlike all those bludgers out there.
yes,I thought it was on the money and read it right through,CT is usually too wordy but he kept it sharp and to the point.if ACT does become the tail wagging the dog, and there is a planned massive transfer of wealth to the rich ,then maybe we should be in the scared group.
NZ is absolutely wet and whiny, and as soon as it ends the better. Let's look at a quick list of stupidity that we try an implement here, the effects, and then the complaining that happens afterward. It has been going on for years and soon we have to understand that government policy will never make up for the fact that we have a large percentage of layabouts in this country that just want whatever anyone else has, regardless of the fact that they never tried to better themselves (it is always someone else's fault you see).
This all started ages ago with the likes of 'celebrating' the fact that you compete in sports. Having no winners and losers, participating is winning. Well, that's not the case, that just breeds a generation of losers. I see we don't really celebrate participation anymore.
We are now (just today I see), prioritizing race in the health system. and we have gone down this hopeless track of pandering to this crazy gender movement that almost no one cares about and will just end in tears, with a massive backlash against them. So, what will happen with these two things, well firstly, race-based healthcare will achieve nothing, the problem is not the healthcare (although there are problems there), the main problem is that a large majority of the people that they are targeting don't care about their lives, don't listen and don't look after themselves. That comes back to education, which as a group, they don't care to participate in. So, tryueto form, when this initiative fails there will be loud screams of racism and all sorts of nonsense and silly requests for more governance when the simple fact is that the problem is their own. The same will happen with the gender movement. There is no one in it, and as soon as the backlash begins (which it seems it has), that group will be defenseless (particularly with the sympathizers peeling off). There will be much complaining and whingeing from this group that they are victims and all the other buzzwords, but the simple fact is they had the same rights as everyone else, and they chose to make noise and so they will eventually get what they deserve.
You could go on and on with lists of different people who believe they are special and complain a lot, and we give in to it, when in fact they deserve nothing. We are all part of this society, we all have the same rules and rights. That is the end of it. As a country, we really need to start ignoring these people and get on with what the majority actually needs in terms of healthcare, education, control of crime etc. rather than listen to all these people that think that because they never tried or looked after themselves (or identify as a chicken), have some right to special treatment. They don't, and they will learn that very soon.
It is little wonder many many people agree with Mr Luxon. He will be our next Prime Minister and things are going to change.
He is getting support from everywhere on this topic. I hope you don't think I am one of the wet complaining types, simply because I agree with something logical and is clear to see. I am not, I just get on with life, earn a great living as a result of having listened at school, and all those good things.
It's clear to see, however, that there are loads of people that just complaining because of their own mistakes and is constantly looking for handouts or a way of not contributing anything, but getting everything in return.
That needs to stop, and it will, and that is why there is overwhelming support for what he said. 65% support according to the poll. That is overwhelming and a lot higher than the support that Jacinda ever had (and there were a lot of people in the support that Jacinda had, that have obviously now seen the error of their ways).
PS: I'm close to 50, could easily retire, and don't have KiwiSaver. don't need it, don't need government super, but thanks, I'll take it. I contributed and earned it. I'm not complaining, I don't need to.
Yep, we're in that camp.Recently saw a doco on the sad state of Sth Africa.Ok, different in so many ways to us here in NZ..BUT.. to see the further deterioration of their country because of poor leadership is frightening.
We need strong leadership that will not tolerate and make excuses for crime, be responsible with the taxes we all pay and who will start to listen to the people..the ones who are the backbone of this country by working hard to provide for their families.
Yup. Don't put up with crime. Be a bit more responsible with spending other peoples' tax payments. Try to find out what the voters want, and then try to implement. Maybe try to get kids basically educated. That would be good. The pre-election 3 waters lying and secrecy has to be kept front row centre right until the election. Among other things Chippy was up to his neck in.
One of the big issues in the South at present is the destroying of the Otago University, which until1963 was NZ's only university. Very sad. The Labour party operatives are hatchetting the Uni in tandem with hatchetting the new Dunedin hospital. Very sad.
If you walk out of oncology with a six-week-to-live prognosis, will you call the specialist a nut-job? Will that help?
There are NO solutions that include BAU. There ARE way-of-life solutions, some of us have had a wee crack at seeing what they are like. Me, I'm part of a think-tank which researches energy, resources, depletion, the Limits to Growth - and what to do about them.
Look up straw-man, eh? Then read your scream.
And here's a piece of logic for you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifeboat_ethics
But don't worry, growth goes on forever.
It doesn't matter. We will have our time on the planet and then we will become extinct much like all previous species. Ours might be self induced rather than a comet from the night sky. Then give the planet 50 million years and it'll be like we were never here apart from the odd fossil.
When you think about it - Make America Great Again - was all about returning to that glorious time when energy was cheap and abundant.
Yeah, folks are getting grumpy, but many have no idea why.
America cannot be great again, not in that way and neither can anywhere else.
We have entered a new epoch - the Anthropocene.
Under Labour the number of people on JobSeeker Work Ready has gone up 54%, during a time when there is a record 3.4% low unemployment rate and the minimum wage has been raised 44%. While Labour is collecting record amounts of taxes and still whinging about how the rich don't pay enough.
It seems nothing much has changed since 1896. The majority of people are "leaners" and not "lifters". Presumably the 20:1 ratio is also unchanged. So yes, NZ is wet, and full of whiny whingers with a sense of entitlement, and zero work ethics.
"Two Kinds of People
There are two kinds of people on earth today,
Two kinds of people no more I say.
Not the good or the bad, for it's well understood,
The good are half bad, the bad are half good.
Not the happy or sad, for in the swift-flying years,
Bring each man his laughter, each man his tears.
Not the rich or the poor, for to count a man's wealth,
You must know the state of his conscience and health.
Not the humble and proud, for in life's busy span,
Who puts on vain airs is not counted a man.
No! the two kinds of people on earth I mean,
Are the people who lift, the people who lean.
Wherever you go you'll find the world's masses
Are ever divided into these two classes.
And, strangely enough, you will find, too, I mean,
There is only one lifter to twenty who lean.
In which class are you? Are you easing the load
Of the overtaxed lifters who toiled down the road?
Or are you a leaner who lets others bear,
Your portion of worry and labor and care?"
― Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1896)
And yet since 2017 another 130,000 people collected NZ super, which is not far short of the total on the unemployment benefit at 168k.
860,000 people (17% of the population) now collect NZ super compared to 240,000 people (5% of the population) on all other forms of benefit.
You're worried about the 3.3% of the population collecting the unemployment benefit. It's the old people that need your money.
Chris Trotter wants to play 'lets pretend' about how New Zealand is. He wants Christopher Luxon to do the same.
I prefer Luxon and Seymour to keep telling us how they see it. Our beautiful country is getting into such a mess the nicey nicey thing is not going to work.
What disappointed me the most was that he tried to cover up what he said, by saying that he was referring to Labour as being Wet and Whiny, when that is clearly not what he said. He should have at least taken ownership of it. Yes, many people in NZ are complaining. Times are tough for many and it is understandable. We had all this money printing which caused inflation, and the experts incorrectly thought it wasn't a problem, so delayed doing anything about it, and kept the stimulus running for far too long. Not good.
Absolutely, interest commenters are the place to find those who agree with Luxon's view:
We comment about the left who hate landlords, hate the rich, demand more be handed out to those who need it - they seem pretty whingey.
We comment about the old, or anyone who appears to be a boomer who blames the young for the struggle they face, or blame immigrants (or bureaucrats who oversee immigration) for the increased cost of living. They seem whiney too.
Then we might take a moment to look at ourselves and note that god damn we love to complain about the RBNZ or specuvestors, or government failure in general.
And to top it all off we have an excellent daily moisture chart of the country which proves how wet we all are.
So we'll never deny it here... whingey, inward looking and wet, to a T.
demand more be handed out to those who need it - they seem pretty whingey.
I think in this case, there are actually more folks whingeing about paying tax, than there are those whingeing about more/better redistributive tax mechanisms needed.
And wet is more a blessing than a curse - just ask the AUS farmers. I don't think he likes campaigning in the rain. Which is quite hilarious, really, given the farmers he is talking to, work in every type of weather. If anything, he's soft. Very un-Kiwi :-).
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